Overview
This course examines the roles of women in traditional, pre-contact Aboriginal societies, the changes facing this group of women as a consequence of colonization, and contemporary issues of concern for Aboriginal women in Canada. While the course deals with Aboriginal women in Canada, particular emphasis will be on Western and Northern Canadian contexts and experiences and the women of those territories wherever the existing resources and materials permit. The course has been designed thematically and chronologically in order for patterns of experience to emerge and become evident. Throughout this course, the terms ‘Indian’, Inuit and ‘Metis’ will be used as they are the terms used in the Constitution Act (1982) to identify Aboriginal peoples of Canada and because these terms reflect historical usage. In the context of this course they are applied exclusive of the derogatory context which has sometimes arisen as a result of cultural misconceptions.
Outline
Indigenous Studies 358 is divided into 10 units each with its own readings and study questions as outlined throughout the course outline.
- Unit 1: Introduction to Theoretical Concepts
- Unit 2: Traditional Roles of Aboriginal Women: Oral Traditions
- Unit 3: Traditional Roles of Aboriginal Women: Recent Scholarship
- Unit 4: The Historical Fur Trade, ca. 1700-1850
- Unit 5: The Colonial Impact, ca. 1850-1920
- Unit 6: The Colonial Impact, ca. 1920-1960
- Unit 7: Challenges to Colonialism, ca. 1960-1985
- Unit 8: Violence and Aboriginal Women in the Late Twentieth Century
- Unit 9: Reawakening Strength and Resistance
- Unit 10: Survival, Strength and Healing through Literature and Artistic Expression
Evaluation
To receive credit for INST 358, you must achieve a grade of at least 50 percent on the final examination, and a course composite grade of at least D (50 percent). The weighting of assignments is as follows:
| Activity | Weight |
| Short Essay | 15% |
| 2 Critical Analyses (10% each) | 20% |
| Long Essay | 35% |
| Final Online Exam | 30% |
| Total | 100% |
The final examination for this course must be requested in advance and written under the supervision of an AU-approved exam invigilator. Invigilators include either ProctorU or an approved in-person invigilation centre that can accommodate online exams. Students are responsible for payment of any invigilation fees. Information on exam request deadlines, invigilators, and other exam-related questions, can be found at the Exams and grades section of the Calendar.
To learn more about assignments and examinations, please refer to Athabasca University’s online Calendar.
Materials
Digital course materials
Links to the following course materials will be made available in the course:
Deloria, Ella. Waterlily. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2009.
Physical course materials
The following course materials are included in a course package that will be shipped to your home prior to your course’s start date:
Anderson, Kim. A Recognition of Being: Reconstructing Native Womanhood. Toronto: Sumach, 2000.
Campbell, Maria. Halfbreed. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 2019.
Evans, Augusta. Days of Augusta, edited by Jean Speare. Vancouver: Douglas and McIntyre, 1992.
Goulding, Warren. Just Another Indian: A Serial Killer and Canada's Indifference. Saskatoon, SK: Fifth House, 2001.
Other Materials
The course materials include a study guide, a student manual, and a reading file.
Students are encouraged to view:
The Burning Times [Montreal: Studio D, National Film Board of Canada, 1990].
Hands of History: Aboriginal Women Artists [Ottawa: National Film Board of Canada, 1994].
Mother of Many Children [Ottawa: National Film Board of Canada, 1977].
Daughters of the Country, Part I, Ikwe and Mistress Madeleine [Ottawa: National Film Board of Canada, 1986].
Donna’s Story [Ottawa: National Film Board of Canada, 2001].
Doctor, Lawyer, Indian Chief: A Documentary Tribute to Native Women in Canada [Ottawa: National Film Board of Canada, 1986].
Challenge for credit
Overview
The challenge for credit process allows you to demonstrate that you have acquired a command of the general subject matter, knowledge, intellectual and/or other skills that would normally be found in a university-level course.
Full information about challenge for credit can be found in the Undergraduate Calendar.
Evaluation
For more information please contact the course coordinator.
Challenge for credit course registration form